1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an improved machine for applying frames to fabric in preparation for embroidering or monogramming the fabric.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In preparation for embroidering a fabric article, such as a golf shirt, sweat shirt, T-shirt, leather jacket, etc., it is usually necessary to hold and tension the area to be embroidered within a frame which has an inner half and an outer half. The frame must be aligned with the area of fabric to be embroidered, which has posed a problem in the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,297 of the present applicant discloses an apparatus for applying frames to fabric which solves many of the problems in the prior art by using a laser beam to align a mark on an article of clothing to be embroidered with a frame which is applied by the machine. While this resulted in better and more uniform placement of the fabric within the frames, it still required manually positioning a mark on the fabric under the laser beam.
For mass production of embroidered articles of clothing and also a great range of different types of clothing and positions of the areas of embroidering for the same clothing type, it is desirable to have a machine which can be set-up to quickly align the embroidered area on the machine with a minimum of manual alignment by the machine operator. It is also desirable to be able to quickly align the area to be embroidered on the machine while also insuring the accuracy of the alignment.